PSIV-19 Flavors and Sweeteners in Nursery Pig Diets Increased Intake and Reduced Soft Feces in the First Weeks After Weaning

Abstract

The stressful events associated with weaning predispose piglets to reduced feed intake, which in concert with immature digestive and immune systems, results in increased incidences of diarrhea and poor performance. Flavors and sweeteners can be used in diets for young pigs as a means of attracting them to dry feed and increase their feed intake and performance after weaning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of flavors and sweeteners and their combination on growth performance and post-weaning gut health of nursery pigs. A total of 1,144 weaned pigs (initial BW 6.61 ± 0.2 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design and assigned to one of four dietary treatments, with 11 replicates (pens) of 26 piglets per pen. Dietary treatments were 1) Control: standard 4-phase nursery feeding program; 2) Sweetener: control plus sweetener (0.015%); 3) Flavor: control plus flavoring (0.05%); 4) Combination: control plus sweetener and flavoring. Experimental diets were provided at a budget of 0.9, 3.4, 4.5, and 24 kg/pig in Phase 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. A common phase 5 diet was provided ad libitum until d56 after weaning. Feed disappearance and body weight were measured every other week. A pen fecal score assessment was performed at d4, 7, 10, and 14 after weaning. Overall, there were no differences among dietary treatments for growth performance. However, during the first two weeks post-weaning pigs fed diets containing flavors and sweeteners had a greater (P = 0.097) ADFI than control pigs. On d14, pigs fed diets containing flavors and sweeteners had less incidence of soft and watery feces (χ2 < 0.05) compared to control pigs. This study provides evidence that dietary inclusion of flavors and sweeteners has important benefits to the overall health of nursery pigs likely related to feed intake in the period immediately after weaning.

Effect of lactation and nursery diets supplemented with a feed flavor on sow feed intake and lactation performance and subsequent weaned pig nursery performance

“…This demonstrates the variable response of the inclusion of feed flavor products on growth performance and the impact diet composition has on the response observed. No differences in overall ADG, ADFI, or G:F were observed due to the inclusion of the feed flavor in the nursery diet, which is in agreement with Strek et al (2008) , Sulabo et al (2010a) , and Perez-Palencia et al (2021) who also saw no differences in growth performance due to the inclusion of a feed flavor. Both ADG and ADFI were greater in pigs from sows fed with the flavor diet regardless of nursery dietary treatment in the current study, which was expected because they started the trial almost 0.5 kg heavier.…”